The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1887-10-29
IContinued from first page.

Continued from Jtrst p0ge.J
fifteen inches in length. This is not,
perhaps, that poetry of fishing where
there is deep water all around and the
fish NAV be killed by the reel, with an
occasional touch of the tip of the rod,
but it is more exciting and requires
more skilland dexterity. The mlnnoW
has passed through the battle nninJuf-
ed and oDce more is cast into the poo
Again the float disappears, and q strike
fastens the hook in the jaws OF a nsh
and the same fight is fought over again.
II ends as before, and after q battle
roval the bass is landed. A fresh
minnow is impaled and q third and a
fourth bass are added to the creei.
Then comes the event. Having struck
his fifth fish it roved to be a tighter.
It tried every stratagem known TO the
fiuny tribe to shake itself free from the
stingipo steel in its jaw. 1t flew up
the liver. then down. 1t leaped from
the water and tried to shake the hook
from its mouth. 1t doubled back
toward the tree. Snubbed in that dl-
rection it darted for deep water again,
ouly to turn suddenly and fly toward
the boat The line cut the water like
a knife: the rod bent again nearly to
the fsberman's hand; h strain was
immense: it seemed to check the hsh
and Will thought it was giving to the
steady tension, but it seemed that II
had merely steadied itself for a supreme
effort: ii chu. ned the top OF the water
as it took a new START and-the rod
snapped IN two about five feet from the
tin. Here an amateur would nave
been lost, but William is a veteran.
He seized the line and succeeded in
recovering the five-foot tip of the rod,
mat as If was about to di. appear under
The boat, and as good luck would have
II in checking his fish which had evil
IDENTIFY stopped when it reached shelter.
Then nv nersuasion and humOring he
at last goi it out into the pool and by
drawing it first in one direction aud
then the other he finally wore it out
and brought it to the landing net. the
king of the expedition, measuring
inches in length, but slender
and not weighing over tour pounds.
The breaking of the rod was a catastro-
phe. OF course, but the capture OF that
fish was a victory sufficiently glorious
to COMPENSATE for many losses. Will
wssin no sense discouraged. He ished
on. with his five foot pole, and if he had
hooked another prince of the pool
would have given him ''a powerful
GOOD fight" 1t was at this time that l
came in sight, and the picture allad-
ed to was Will, squatted down In the
stern of the boat, fishing for small
mouthed black bass, the ganest hsh OF
our waters, with five feet OF rod a
onarter of an inch in diameter. "Allee
samee.n as the ChlnaInan would say,
the ..Melican man. didn't give up, and
after l reached him he managed in
some way, though not without many a
struggle and narrow escape from dis
comfiture, in making his catch from
that pool number fifteen. L caught
two or three on my side OF the boat,
and we moved on. In describing our
tackle at the outset / stated that the
pretty rod came to grief, and l have
now told you the story of its disaster.
After leaving this place the cook
killed a few ducks as they flew over,
and as Billy had killed a few in the
morning, and one squirrel, there was
material on hand for a burgoo.
The days journey was through en-
chanting scenery. The mountains
upon either side, sometimes upon both
sides at once, were mostly p~feclpltous,
and the rocks Ut different strata and
hues presented exquisite blendings OF
form and color. When the hills rose
upon both sides of the river beautiful
yistas would sometimes be formed,
with the light almost shut out over
head, but appearing far in the distance.
The rapids, which were frequent.
sparkled aud %glittered, and whirled
our boats. along at times as if they had
been toys. We went into ''Camp
Alex rather late, upon the left bank
OF the stream, by the side of a country
road. As we were getting things into
shape an old lady passed on horse back
with whom we exchanged compliments,
the result of which was that
after supper her s~on-in-law, Mr.. Elias
Riddle, his friend, a deputy sheriff OF
Pulaski county, and two younger gen.
tlemen called on US at u camp. Mr.
Riddle is a substantial farmer VINO re-
sides heal by. He aud his party were
very polite to us and gave us all the
information in their power. They told
us that the vicinity had once been ful
of game, and that deer had been killed
mol tar away the day before, but tina
game of all kinds was much scarce
than it was a few years ago. We sug
gested that the enforcement of the
game laws might do good in this re.
spect, but we found that Mr. Riddle
did not take very kindly either to game
or fish laws. We had observed along
the river a large number Of basket nett
OR traps, say from five to eight fee
dong, most deadly c~ontrlvances at som
Seasons of the year aud clearly in VIC
iatiun of the fish Jaw. Mr.. Riddle die
not see any special harm in using thes'
traps, though he admitted that the,
had been the means of pretty nearly
exterminating the blue cat OF thi
river, one of the haudsomest and gam
est of fish aud AL excellent on tn
table. He informed us that there wer
q good many Jack salmon in the Gas
7cOnade, beside catfish, red horse, but
falO and bass. Aud he told US OF
wonderful animal which he called
alter puppy, much like the young q
the canine, which frequently gets caugh
upon troll and other lines, and is a slim
aud disgusting object, beside being
vicious tighter. He explained to US tn
zaodus operandi of gigging fish, whe
the river is low in winter, and The lis
lie in the deep stretches between tn
rapids. At that time, b water beini
perfectly clear and transparent, the ifs
may be seen very easily, and Mr.. Rit
die said, it was mo trick at ALL for
man who knew how to gig, as he dit
to kill his sixteen or eighteen hundre
pounds of fish a day. These sre read
ly marketed at the railroad. The coo
of this expedition had the honor f.,
present in the Missouri legislature II
law creating the state fish commission
and providing severe penalties for Il
destruction OF fish by %seines, nets, trap
weirs, or any other device in which
catch fish, in any of the waters Of Il
state, and hence could not we'll be
sympathy with Mr.. Riddles vieWs,al
be oniy now regrets that he did II
manage to have included i'll the law d
obnoxious Instruments OF extermin
ton, the gig and spear.
MIR. Riddles friend, the depu
sheriff. surprised US a little by recc,
nizing our Scraps as a dog which
had formerly owned. He said his re
title was Dan, and he gave him
excellent name barring the deatle:
which we ourselves had discovered
be his weakness. He promised to tai
him of our hands in the morning, b
tailed to put in an appearance in tim
so Scraps still continued i'll our comp
ny. As Mr.. Riddle departed we +,
membered that we had not inquir,
his uaIne SO we called after him t
his pa r%onymic. He turned his he;